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Theo wasn’t leaving. The silence was excruciating and I wanted to scream for him to get out and go away and never, ever kiss me again. But I knew I couldn’t do that. Not to Theo. I loved him too much.
Instead, I hugged the book to my chest.
“You’re right,” I said, the words tasting like ashes in my mouth. “I should…I’ll just…go take a shower.”
“Haley, wait - ”
I didn’t stop to hear what he said and fled from my room.
Chapter Six
Theo
Ever since that kiss, Haley had been avoiding me.
When I was seated in the living room, reading a picture book to Johnny, Haley walked in, saw me in the armchair by the fireplace, and walked right out again.
When she was making lunch with Mrs. Talbot and Chase in the kitchen, as soon as I entered the room, she mumbled an excuse with a furious blush in her cheeks and ducked out.
I tried to give her time. I tried to give her space.
But after the second day of avoiding each other, with Christmas Eve quickly approaching, I couldn’t stand to leave it like this. Stiff and awkward and miserable. I hadn’t intended to embarrass her, or make her feel bad.
I should have known better. And I shouldn’t have read that damn book out loud. I guess I never thought she read such explicit material. I had expected something cheesy, with canned lines about undying love and soulmates. To realize she was such an avid reader of straight-up, graphic sex scenes had me fighting a hard-on.
Chase and I returned from snowshoeing one afternoon, sweaty and starving. We trudged into the kitchen to find Haley up to her elbows in gingerbread houses with Brenda and Johnny.
“Looks delicious, sis,” Chase said.
He looped an arm around her shoulders and snatched a peppermint from her pile of house building materials. Haley didn’t protest, didn’t even look up from the icing she diligently piped along the roofline.
“Aren’t you going to tell me to buzz off and stop eating your masterpiece?” Chase asked.
Haley simply shook her head and slotted a small roof tile made of graham cracker into the icing she’d carefully laid down. Her gaze flickered up to me for a split second before darting away again.
Chase sighed and gave Haley’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I’d never seen him this protective around Haley before. He’d always pestered her, teased her relentlessly, riling her up. But after her disastrous date, he’d been gentler with her.
“Hey,” he said. “Why don’t we make a giant blanket fort in the living room and watch some Christmas movies?”
Brenda and Johnny whooped with excitement. Before Johnny could slide out of his chair, Mrs. Talbot scooped him up.
“You, little man, have sticky hands. We’re going to get you clean before you’re allowed anywhere near the living room.”
Brenda grabbed Chase’s hand, pulling him from the kitchen. He glanced over his shoulder at Haley.
“Are you coming?”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” she replied, though she didn’t show any signs of abandoning her gingerbread house.
I pulled out a chair beside her and held out a pretzel stick for the half-finished fence along her gingerbread property.
“Have you considered a career in construction or architecture?” I asked in an attempt to lighten the mood and put her at ease. “That house looks sturdy enough to weather any storm.”
Haley considered the pretzel stick I offered like an olive branch of peace. Gingerly, she accepted it, taking careful measure that her fingertips never touched mine.
“Haley,” I said softly. “There’s really no need to be embarrassed about what happened.”
She shook her head. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. It was wrong. I…I made you uncomfortable.”
